The Women

Stark truths___5 plus

The wall of heroes in Frances Grace McGrath father’s house holds no place for women!
When a friend, Rye Walsh, says to Frances that women can be hero’s, she believes him.
Her brother Finley, a recently graduated naval officer, is deployed to Vietnam. He doesn’t return.
Kristin Hannah has taken the story of women who served in Vietnam and broken it open, revealed it in a way that breaks your heart.
I’m rendered speechless by this beautiful, sobering story of one woman’s journey.
Frances is a barely trained nurse, just turned twenty-one who enlists with the Army to nurse in Vietnam. Believe me she hits the ground running, all innocence lost in her introduction to the harrowing circumstances she faces. Vietnam! A show more place where she’ll grow, grieve, and work under atrocious conditions.
The scenes of the overcrowded Mobile Medical units, ‘in country’, close to the fighting, are horrendous. Apocalypse Now on steroids.
Frances is betrayed by her country, the man she loves, and her family. When she arrives home she’s spat on, she’s abused.
The forgotten women of the war. Even Veteran Affairs refused to acknowledge the women as vets!
I cried a lot during the reading of this. The silence is resounding.
We all know Vietnam was a war that should never have happened. Frances’ story encapsulates that.
Frances’ journey is one of hope and disappointment, of shame and guilt, of coming to the place of personal peace at a huge cost.
Hannah has written a novel for all the forgotten women who served in Vietnam in a myriad of capacities. It’s a tribute to the harsh retelling, of the psychologically wounded, of the people who came home to a government that failed to support them, that refused to acknowledge MIA personal may still being held by the North Vietnamese, that lied to them, and like Pontius Pilate washed their hands, in the blood of their people.
Heroic in scope, tragic in forgotten-ness, a generation lost through no fault of their own. Some bought into the myth, some endured, most lost themselves.
Frances’ story encapsulates them all.
Lest we Forget! I know I won’t!

A St Martin’s Press ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher. show less

The Women by Kristin Hannah is an exceptional portrait of a nurse serving "in country" during the Vietnam War and then returning home. This is a very highly recommended, emotionally charged historical fiction novel which will certainly be one of the best books of the year. This would be an excellent choice for book clubs and will certainly result in thought-provoking discussions.

After nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears the words "Women can be heroes too," while looking at her father's wall of heroes featuring pictures of the men in their family who served their country during a party for her brother Finley who is leaving to serve his country in Vietnam. After she gets her RN she follows the lead of her older brother, show more and joins the Army Nurse Corps and begins basic training in 1966. Once she arrives in Vietnam, she is overwhelmed by the smells, sights and chaos, but is shown support and the ropes by fellow nurses Ethel and Barb. She quickly steps up and adapts to the responsibilities of a surgical nurse dealing with horrific injuries under extreme conditions.

After serving two years, Frankie comes home and faces a different kind of battle. Her father is ashamed of her service, the country does not recognize nurses who served and sacrificed as veterans, and the country is in turmoil. The only help and support she can find for her PTSD are from Ethel and Barb who understand what she is going through mentally and help her adapt to civilian life in a changed country.

The writing is phenomenal and manages to create an emotionally charged, realistic, and vivid portrait of Frankie's service and her struggles. I was completely immersed in The Women from start to finish. Part of my complete captivation with the narrative was based on my memories from that time period. I was young, but have vivid memories of events from the sixties and certainly more from the seventies. Hannah managed to create a complete portrait of the women and the times (including clothing).

The experiences the characters experience is heart-breaking. Frankie is a completely fully-realized realistic character who garnered my compassion and empathy. Her treatment when coming back from war to work in a hospital is eye-opening and in many ways disgusting.

This is the best kind of historical fiction as it takes a long sweeping view covering years of a character's life as society, information, and point-of-views constantly change around the characters. It covers an era and a turbulent time. The narrative is broken into two parts. The first deals mainly with the war and the second with trying to reenter civilian life after the war.

The Women by Kristin Hannah is a must read novel. I expect it to be on many lists for the best novels of 2024. Thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion. http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2024/01/the-women.html show less

“Women can be heroes.”
More than just a story, Kristin Hannah's "The Women" is an immersive experience that transcends the battlefield.
Inspired by the call to be heroes, young Frankie McGrath leaves her sheltered life and joins the Vietnam War nurses. Witnessing the conflict's devastating impact on soldiers and civilians firsthand, she and her close friends forge an unbreakable bond through shared courage and compassion evident in every act of care they offer.
Hannah masterfully portrays the emotional depth of this story, weaving together the horrors of war with the unwavering spirit of these extraordinary women. We witness the toll it takes, the camaraderie that builds, the lives saved, and the lasting effects on their return show more home.
"The Women" is not just a war story; it's a celebration of female heroism. It goes beyond grand gestures, highlighting the everyday acts of courage, compassion, and selflessness that define heroism. This unforgettable novel, already my favorite read of 2024, has left a lasting impression, making it one of the few I'll revisit again and again. show less

4.5
This is a really important book that takes as its context the approximately 10,000 women who were in Vietnam during the war as nurses, doctors, air traffic controllers, etc, and focuses it on the life of one Frankie McGrath. Motivated by her brother's service in the Navy, a twenty-year-old Frankie (almost 21!) finds herself at an Army recruitment office, eager to put her nursing skills to use as part of the war effort. She longs to be on her father's "Wall of Heroes" and after a short and successful stint in boot camp, bounds off to serve as a nurse in Vietnam.

The book is as much about what happens upon her return home as it is what happens over there, but Hannah manages to create characters and relationships that are so vibrant and show more recognizable in their messy truths. Hannah definitely honors these women who were so crucial to helping the injured, and while the narrative does get a bit preachy at times, there are plenty of raw and unadulterated ugly-cry moments. I have not yet read The Nightingale, but I was reminded of Hannah's The Four Winds in how multi-dimensional and real the women characters are. The lack of conflict between Frankie and her two best friends didn't always ring true for me, and I found myself slightly annoyed at Frankie's naivete, but that's a lot of privilege on my part. show less

Kristin Hannah's THE WOMEN (2024) is perhaps one of the bestselling books in America this year and already has hundreds (oops! THOUSANDS!) of online reader reviews. Not surprising, as I know she has legions of fans, most of them women. (Hell, women read more than men. Period.) Anyway, since Hannah's latest novel is about women who served in the Vietnam war, I was curious, as I'm usually interested in books about the military and war. I should have known better. Hannah always writes to her female fan base, and this one is no exception. Her heroine is Frankie McGrath, a very wealthy California girl, educated in private schools and Catholic college who, trying to please her father, follows her older brother, a Naval Academy grad, to show more Vietnam by joining the Army Nurses Corps. There she learns surgical nursing skills under the worst conditions at a field evac hospital, endures the blood, mud and monsoons, and makes two close lifelong friends. She sees a lot of death and dismemberment, does some fast growing up, falls in love, with a surgeon, then with a chopper pilot. She gets her heart broken a few times, reups for a second tour. Finally loses her virginity in a sex-soaked r&r in Hawaii. Comes home to the indifference and hate of the anti-war types. Gets spat on, has trouble with reentry to civilian life, falls in love - or lust - with an older man, a psychologist. Abuses drugs and alcohol. Has a nervous breakdown, is hospitalized. Gets out, has PTSD flashbacks. Her two faithful Vietnam nurse buddies get her help. Her rich parents don't understand, but GIVE her a cute little cottage to live in. Lots of cunningly tucked in references to the music and films and politics of the sixties and seventies. Twenty-some years later our plucky girl of the golden West is in recovery and helping others get help and - SURPRISE! Just MAY live happily ever after. I won't give any more specifics, because I don't want to spoil it for the thousands of women who will read and no doubt LOVE this book. I know my wife will love it. Me? I can't believe I read the whole thing. I skimmed over a lot of the girlie stuff about clothes and decor, as well as the tasteful fade to black love scenes. While it is obvious that Hannah did some research, reading and homework about the Vietnam war and the turbulent sixties, her end product is still a Kristin Hannah romance - a bumpy but predictable road to a kinda happy ending. I can see why women love Hannah's books. I also read her THE GREAT ALONE. Same reaction. Meh. Wanna read a good novel about women in Vietnam? Try FOR ROUENNA, by Sigrid Nunez. This one? From me it gets a "just okay," and is about a hundred pages too long at that.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less

Frankie McGrath is a young woman from an affluent conservative family who decides to enlist as a nurse in the Vietnam War, following in the footsteps of her brother. She is immediately thrown into the fray, working in medical units that frequently come under fire. She learns quickly and becomes a top-rate surgical nurse. When she returns to the States in 1969, after two tours, many Americans are protesting the war, some are hostile to vets, and others are unaware that any women were involved. She struggles to adapt to life back home, acquires substance abuse issues, and develops what we now call PTSD. The Women is a story of friendship, patriotism, war-related trauma, and healing.

It is structured in two parts. Part One covers show more Frankie’s enlistment in 1966, experiences in Vietnam, and involvement in the first two romantic relationships of her life. Part Two covers her return, parental issues, deterioration in mental health, and more romantic relationships. I enjoyed the story of female friendships, and I think it is effective in bringing to light roles women played in the Vietnam War. Even though it includes a bit too much romance, melodrama, and coincidences for my taste, I found it worth reading. Just be aware that Kristin Hannah tends to put her protagonists through a great deal of trauma, and this book is no exception. show less

I had to listen to this in a great rush - kicked up the speed to X1.5 - because I'd only left 3 days to get through a 15 hour book - and it quickly became apparent that I had to finish this book - it wouldn't let me go.

I only turned up the speed about 10 hours in and by that time I was so absorbed I would have hung on to every word under any conditions. I thought I might be able to borrow this again but only one of my libraries, and Hoopla, had the audiobook, and at my library I was #1,274 in line on 300 copies - I've never seen such big numbers! Obviously, this book, released this year, is on many people's radar.

The experience of being dropped into that field hospital, the horror of the injuries, the bravery of the men, AND women, in show more the fight, and in the hospitals - those who stitched up the blown up and burnt bodies of everyone in the firing line. It was saturating and vivid.

The mildew, the heat, the overwork, the loneliness, the fear, the trauma ... we lived through all this with Frankie, a 20-year old graduate nurse. Those nurses had such guts, such perseverance and loyalty.

The novel was am adrenaline drain - being on the edge for so many hours, living through the war and then the PTSD upon returning home - not that it was called that until a fews after Frankie fought what was an unknown demon.

I loved the underlying loves stories also - Frankie's first love Jamie, the wise, sweet, sad surgeon; then Ry, the great love but flawed; and Henry, the psychologist, who gave her sunlight but she had still not addressed her PTSD. Each of these relationships was beautifully, romantically written, though they were pushed to the side of the novel as time and again Hannah pulls us back to "The Women" - Frankie and nursing buddies Barb and Ethel, and later the wives of POWs, and then women traumatised by the war fallout who find shelter on her ranch.

This summary only skims the surface, as the battered Frankie is under mortar fire by life throughout the book.

Hannah returns again and again to heroism, its idolation by Frankie's father, and by herself from childhood, and the destruction that causes.

I also appreciated the history lesson very much. show less